Vegetable oils are increasingly important economically because they are widely used in human and animal diets and in many industrial applications. However, the fatty acid composition of these oils is often not optimal for many of these uses. Because specialty oils with particular fatty acid composition are needed for both nutritional and industrial purposes, there is considerable interest in modifying oil composition by plant-breeding and/or by new molecular tools of plant biotechnology (see for example Scarth and Tang, 2006, Crop Science 46:1225-1236, for the modification of Brassica oil).
The specific performance and health attributes of edible oils are determined largely by their fatty acid composition. Most vegetable oils derived from commercial plant varieties are composed primarily of palmitic (16:0), stearic (18:0), oleic (18:1), linoleic (18:2) and linolenic (18:3) acids. Palmitic and stearic acids are, respectively, 16 and 18 carbon-long, saturated fatty acids. Oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids are 18-carbon-long, unsaturated fatty acids containing one, two, and three double bonds, respectively. Oleic acid is referred to as a mono-unsaturated fatty acid, while linoleic and linolenic acids are referred to as poly-unsaturated fatty acids.
Brassica oilseed species, like Brassica napus (B. napus) and Brassica juncea (B. juncea), commonly known as rapeseed and mustard, are now the second largest oilseed crop after soybean (FAO, 2005; Raymer (2002) In J. Janick and A. Whipkey (ed.) Trends in new crops and new uses. ASHS Press, Alexandria, Va. Raymer, p. 122-126). Rapeseed oil produced by traditional Brassica oilseed cultivars (B. napus, B. rapa, and B. juncea) (Shahidi (1990) In Shahidi (ed.) Canola and rapeseed: Production, chemistry, nutrition, and processing technology. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, p. 3-13; Sovero (1993) In J. Janick and J. E. Simon (ed.) New crops. John Wiley & Sons, New York, p. 302-307), typically had a fatty acid composition of 5% palmitic acid (C16:0), 1% stearic acid (C18:0), 15% oleic acid (C18:1), 14% linoleic acid (C18:2), 9% linolenic acid (C18:3), and 45% erucic acid (C22:1) by weight based upon the total fatty acid content (called herein after wt %) (Ackman (1990) In Shahidi (ed.) Canola and rapeseed: Production, chemistry, nutrition, and processing technology. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, p. 81-98). Erucic acid is a nutritionally undesirable fatty acid and has been reduced to very low levels in Brassica oil for edible uses. The typical relative amount of saturated fatty acids based on the total fatty acids in the seed oil is between about 6.5% and 7.5%, whereby the majority is palmitic acid and stearic acid.
In Canada, plant scientists focused their efforts on creating so-called “double-low” varieties which were low in erucic acid in the seed oil and low in glucosinolates in the solid meal remaining after oil extraction (i.e., an erucic acid content of less than 2 wt % and a glucosinolate content of less than 30 micromoles per gram of the oil-free meal). These higher quality forms of rape developed in Canada are known as canola. Canola oil is characterized by a relatively low level of saturated fatty acids (on average about 7 wt %), a relatively high level of mono-unsaturated fatty acids (about 61 wt %) and an intermediate level of poly-unsaturated fatty acids (about 32 wt %), with a good balance between linoleic acid, i.e., an omega-6 fatty acid (about 21 wt %), and alpha-linolenic acid, i.e., an omega-3 fatty acids (about 11 wt %).
A major reason for the current interest in dietary fat relates to the evidence linking high fat intakes, especially saturated fat, to coronary heart disease. High levels of blood cholesterol, in particular the “bad” (low-density lipoprotein or LDL) cholesterol, constitute a major risk factor in coronary heart disease. Several studies suggest that diets high in mono-unsaturated fat and low in saturated fat may reduce the “bad” (low-density lipoprotein or LDL) cholesterol while maintaining the “good” (high-density lipoprotein or HDL) cholesterol (Nicolosi and Rogers, 1997, Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 29:1422-1428).
Nutrition recommendations in North America and Europe call for a reduction in total fat intake to 30% or less and a reduction in saturated fat intake to less than 10% of total energy (21 C.F.R. 101.75 (b) (3)) (as compared to a saturated fat intake of about 15% to 20% of total caloric consumption in most industrialized nations). To facilitate consumer awareness, current labeling guidelines issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) now require total saturated fatty acid levels be 1 g or less of saturated fatty acids per reference amount customarily consumed and not more than 15 percent of calories from saturated fatty acids to receive the “low saturated fat” or “low sat” label (21 C.F.R. 101.62 (c) (2)) and less than 0.5 g of saturated fat and less than 0.5 g trans fatty acid (a type of unsaturated fatty acid produced by (partial) hydrogenation of plant oils and considered unhealthy as it increases the risk of coronary heart disease, despite being unsaturated) per reference amount customarily consumed and per labeled serving to receive the “no (or zero) saturated fat” or “no (or zero) sat” label (21 C.F.R. 101.62 (c) (1)). This means that the total saturated fatty acid content (the weight percentage of saturated fatty acids based on the total amount of fatty acids in the oil), i.e. the sum of the lauric acid (C12:0; dodecanoic acid), myristic acid (C14:0; tetradecanoic acid), palmitic acid (C16:0; hexadecanoic acid), stearic acid (C18:0; octadecanopic acid), archidic acid (C20:0; eicosanoic acid), behenic acid (C22:0; docosanoic acid), and lignoceric acid (C24:0; tetracosanoic acid) content, of plant oils needs to be less than 7 wt % to receive the “low sat” label and less than 3.5 wt % to receive the “no sat” label, (based on a reference amount of 15 ml or 14 g oil—21 C.F.R. 101.12).
Canola oil contains only about 7 wt % saturated fatty acids, as compared to the level of saturated fatty acids in other commonly used edible vegetable oils such as safflower oil (8 wt %), flaxseed oil (9 wt %), sunflower oil (12 wt %), corn oil (13 wt %), olive oil (15 wt %), soybean oil (15 wt %), peanut oil (19 wt %), cottonseed oil (27 wt %), palm oil (51 wt %), and coconut oil (91 wt %) (Source POS Pilot Plant Corporation). Various approaches were used to try to further decrease this level of saturated fatty acids.
Modification of vegetable oils may be effected chemically: U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,811 describes triglyceride salad/cooking oil compositions wherein the fatty acid content of the triglyceride of the oil comprises less than about 3 wt % saturated fatty acids obtained by chemical reaction or by physical separation of the saturates. However, chemical modification of vegetable oils to decrease the level of saturated fatty acids is not only more expensive than extraction of vegetable oil from Brassica oilseed plants (or any other oilseed plant) modified to provide an improved edible endogenous vegetable oil as presently disclosed, but might also not be a desired way of improving healthiness of oils for human consumption due to the potential inadvertent presence of residues from the chemical products used and of putative side products.
Another possibility of modifying fatty acid composition is by using genetic engineering. For example, US Patent Application No. 2004/0132189 describes the reduction of the level of saturated fatty acids in Brassica lines co-expressing Cuphea pullcherima beta-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase I and IV sequences as well as a safflower delta-9 desaturase to about 3 wt % and below 3.4 wt % as compared to a level of saturated fatty acids in non-transformed control lines of about 6.0 wt %. WO06/042049 describes Brassica plants with “no saturate” or reduced saturate levels of fatty acids in their seeds expressing a delta-9 desaturase gene. However, disadvantages of transgenic approaches for commercialization are the needs for regulatory approval and the varying acceptance in different parts of the world.
The fatty acid composition of vegetable oils can also be modified through traditional breeding techniques. These techniques utilize existing germplasm as a source of naturally occurring mutations that affect fatty acid composition. For example, Raney et al. (1999, In Proc. 10th Int. Rapeseed Cong.: New horizons for an old crop, Canberra, Australia) describe breeding populations derived from interspecific crosses of B. napus with B. rapa and B. oleracea wherein the level of saturated fatty acids, expressed as the sum of myristic, palmitic, stearic, archidic, behenic, and lignoceric acid, was decreased to less than 6 wt % and wherein the level of saturated fatty acids, expressed as the sum of myristic, palmitic and stearic acid, was decreased to less than 5 wt %.
Attempts have been made to increase the pool of available mutations from which to select desired characteristics by using mutagens. For example, WO 91/15578 describes rape plants which upon self-pollination are capable of forming rapeseeds which yield oil having a saturated fatty acid content of no more than 4 wt % in the form of palmitic and stearic acid which can be formed by chemical mutagenesis followed by selection.
In plants, de novo fatty acid synthesis is located exclusively in the stroma of plastids, where the acyl chains are covalently bound to a soluble acyl carrier protein (ACP) during the extension cycles. Carbon chain elongation can be terminated by transferring the acyl group to glycerol-3-phosphate, thereby retaining it in the plastidial, “prokaryotic”, lipid biosynthesis pathway. Alternatively, specific thioesterases can intercept the prokaryotic (plastidial) pathway by hydrolyzing the newly formed acyl-ACP into a free fatty acid and ACP. Subsequently, the free fatty acid exits the plastids and supplies the cytoplasmic “eukaryotic” lipid biosynthesis pathway. The latter is located in the endoplasmic reticulum and is responsible for the formation of phospholipids, triglycerides, and other neutral lipids. Therefore, by hydrolyzing acyl-ACP and releasing the fatty acid, acyl-ACP thioesterases catalyze the first committed step in the eukaryotic lipid biosynthesis pathway in plant cells and play a crucial role in the distribution of de novo synthesized acyl groups between the two pathways (Löhden and Frentzen, 1988, Planta 176:506-512; Browse and Somerville, 1991, Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol 42: 467-506; Gibson et al., 1994, Plant Cell Environ 17: 627-637).
Jones et al. (1995, Plant cell 7:359-371) and Voelker et al. (1997, Plant Physiology 114, 669-677) describe two distinct but related thioesterase gene classes in higher plants, termed FATA and FATB. These two thioesterase classes can be distinguished by sequence comparison and/or by their substrate specificity/preference. The FATA thioesterases (also called class I thioesterases) show a clear preference for C18:1 acyl- or oleoyl-ACP with only minor activity toward C18:0 acyl- and C16:0 acyl-ACPs (i.e. the acyl preference is 18:1>>18:0>>16:0). In contrast, FATB members (also called class II thioesterases) prefer saturated acyl-ACP groups as substrate, and substrate chain length varying greatly from C8 to C18 acyl-ACP (Mayer and Shanklin, 2005, J. Biol. Chem. 280(5): 3621-3627). In addition, FATB members can be further subdivided into two functional groups. Some FATB enzymes are specific for saturated acyl-ACPs in the C8 to C14 range (medium-chain acyl-ACP preferring thioesterases) and are found in medium-chain-producing species, with expression restricted to medium-chain-producing tissues. Enzymes of a second FATB group preferring C14 to C18 acyl-ACPs (predominantly palmitoyl-ACP, e.g. enzymes with a preference of C16:0>C18:1>C18:0; long-chain acyl-ACP preferring thioesterases) are probably present in all major plant parts and are not restricted to medium-chain-producing species (Jones et al., 1995, Plant cell 7:359-371). Why plants have these different types of thioesterases and what their individual roles are is still largely unclear.
FATA genes were isolated from a number of plant species, including Brassica species. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,186, No. 5,530,186, and No. 5,945,585 describe FATA genes from soybean; Hellyer et al. (1992, Plant Mol. Biol. 20:763-780) describe FATA enzymes from Brassica napus; Loader et al. (1993, Plant Mol. Biol. 23(4): 769-778) describe the isolation and characterization of two acyl-ACP thioesterase clones from a Brassica napus embryo cDNA library using oligonucleotides derived from B. napus oleoyl-ACP thioesterase protein sequence data; and Mandal et al. (2000, Bioch. Soc. Transactions 28(6): 967-968) describe the cloning of acyl-ACP thioesterase gene sequences from B. juncea that show a homology with the FATA genes from different species.
FATB genes encoding FATB enzymes specific for saturated acyl-ACPs in the C8 to C14 range (medium-chain acyl-ACP preferring thioesterases) were isolated from a number of medium-chain-producing plant species, as described in the references below:
WO91/16421 describes the isolation of a lauroyl (C12:0)-ACP-preferring thioesterase from California bay (Umbellularia californica), a C10:0 acyl-ACP-preferring thioesterase from camphor (Cuphea hookeriana) and a stearoyl (C18:0)-ACP-preferring thioesterase from safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) and the expression of the California bay thioesterase in Brassica seed, resulting in an increased level of laurate as compared to the level in non-transgenic Brassica seed.
WO92/20236 describes the isolation of C8:0 to C14:0 acyl-ACP-preferring thioesterases and the expression of a lauroyl (C12:0)-ACP-preferring thioesterase from California bay in Arabidopsis and Brassica campestris, resulting in increased levels of laurate.
Voelker et al. (1992, Science 257: 72-74) describe the expression of a FATB cDNA (Uc FATB1) encoding a lauroyl (C12:0)-ACP thioesterase from California bay, a species that accumulates capric (C10:0) and lauric acid (C12:0) in the seed oil, in seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana, which normally do not accumulate laurate, resulting in the accumulation of laurate in mature seeds. Voelker et al. (1996, Plant J. 9:229-241) describe the transformation of the same FATB transgene into Brassica napus, resulting in the accumulation of laurate to nearly 60 mol % of the triglyceride acyl groups.
Eccleston and Ohlrogge (1998, Plant cell 10:613-621) describe the expression of a C12:0 acyl-ACP thioesterase from Umbellularia californica in Brassica napus seeds leading to a seed oil containing 1.8 mol % to 59.6 mol % laurate (C12:0).
WO94/10288 describes the isolation of C8:0 to C10:0 acyl-ACP-preferring thioesterases.
Martini et al. (1995, In Proc. 9th Int. Rapeseed Cong, Cambridge, UK, p. 461-463) describe that two FATB genes from Cuphea lanceolata, separately transformed in B. napus, resulted in the accumulation of caprylic (C8:0) and capric acid (C10:0) in Brassica seed oil at low levels.
Dehesh et al. (1996, Plant J. 9(2):167-172) describe the expression of a FATB cDNA (Ch FATB2) from the Mexican shrub Cuphea hookeriana, which accumulates up to 75 mol % caprylate (C8:0) and caprate (C10:0) in its seed oil, in seeds of transgenic canola, which normally does not accumulate these fatty acids, resulting in the accumulation of caprylate (C8:0), caprate (C10:0) and laurate (C12:0) up to 11, 27 and 2 mol %, respectively.
FATB genes encoding FATB enzymes specific for/preferring saturated acyl-ACPs in the C14 to C18 range (long-chain acyl-ACP preferring thioesterases) were isolated form a number of plant species:
WO95/13390 describes the isolation of palmitoyl (C16:0)-ACP thioesterase sequences from leek, mango, elm and camphor and their use in increasing and decreasing levels of saturated fatty acids in soybean and canola by genetic transformation.
Jones et al. (1995, Plant cell 7:259-371) describe the expression of a palmitoyl (C16:0)-ACP thioesterase cDNA from camphor (Ch FATB1) in transgenic Brassica napus plants resulting in an increase of palmitate (C16:0) levels from 6 mol % up to 35 mol %.
Voelker et al. (1997, Plant Physiol. 114:669-677) describe the expression of a C14:0 to C18:0 acyl-ACP thioesterase from nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), which accumulates predominantly myristate (14:0)-containing oil, in Brassica napus seeds, leading to a seed oil enriched in C14 to C18 saturates.
Voelker et al. (1997, Plant Physiol. 114:669-677) also describe the expression of a C10:0 and C16:0 acyl-ACP thioesterase from elm (Ulmus americana), which accumulates predominantly caprate (10:0)-containing oil, in Brassica napus seeds, leading to a seed oil enriched in C10 to C18 saturates, predominantly palmitate (C16:0), myristate (C14:0), and caprate (C10:0).
WO96/23892 describes myristoyl (C14:0)-ACP thioesterase sequences from Cuphea palustris, camphor and nutmeg and their use in the production of myristate in plant cells.
WO96/06936 describes soybean and canola palmitoyl (C16:0)-ACP thioesterase cDNAs and their use in increasing and decreasing levels of saturated fatty acids in soybean and canola by genetic transformation.
Dörmann et al. (2000, Plant Physiol 123:637-643) describe over-expression of a long chain acyl-ACP thioesterase cDNA from Arabidopsis (AtFATB1) under a seed-specific promoter in Arabidopsis, resulting in the accumulation of high amounts of palmitate (C16:0) in seeds (from 10 mol % in wild-type control to 38.6 mol %). Antisense expression of the Arabidopsis FATB1 cDNA under the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter resulted in a strong reduction of seed palmitate content (from 11 mol % in wild-type control to 6 mol %) and flower palmitate content and only minor changes in leaf and root fatty acids.
Bonaventure et al. (2003, Plant Cell 15:1020-1033) describe that the palmitate (C16:0) content of glycerolipids of an Arabidopsis mutant with a T-DNA insertion in the FATB gene (in Arabidopsis two genes for FATA are present, but only a single gene for FATB; see Mekhedov et al. 2000, Plant Physiol. 122:389-402; and Beisson et al. 2003, Plant Physiol. 132: 681-697) was reduced by 42% in leaves, by 56% in flowers, by 48% in roots and by 56% in seeds. In addition, stearate (C18:0) was reduced by 50% in leaves and by 30% in seeds. The growth rate was significantly reduced in the mutant and mutant plants produced seeds with low viability, reduced germination and altered seed morphology, indicating that FATB is essential for plant growth and seed development.
Bonaventure et al. (2004, Plant Physiol 135:1269-1279) describe that the rate of fatty acid synthesis in leaves of the transgenic FATB knock-out mutant Arabidopsis plant increases by 40%, resulting in approximately the same amount of palmitate exported from the plastid as in wild type but an increase in oleate export of about 55%.
Pandian et al. (2004, poster abstract, 4th Int. Crop Sci. Cong.) reports the isolation of a full-length FATB gene sequences from B. napus (GenBank accession number DQ847275) and B. juncea (GenBank accession number DQ856315), the construction of an inverted repeat gene-silencing construct (under control of a seed-specific promoter) with a 740 bp conserved fragment of a part of the B. napus sequence which shared more than 90% sequence homology to FATB sequences of B. juncea and Arabidopsis thaliana, but less than 40% homology to the FATA genes of these three species, and its transformation into Arabidopsis thaliana, B. napus and B. juncea. The aim is to create transgenic plants with reduced palmitic acid content in the seed oil. The disclosure teaches nothing about the effect of this gene-silencing construct on the eventual seed oil composition (no results are disclosed) or about alternative methods for generating Brassica plants with low saturate seed oils.
Mayer and Shanklin (2005, J. Biol. Chem. 280(5): 3621-3627) describe a structural model of the Arabidopsis FATB protein wherein the N-terminal domain contains residues that affect specificity (see also Mayer and Shanklin, 2007, BMC Plant Biology 7(1):1-11) and the C-terminal domain contains catalytic residues.
Despite the fact that sequences of some FATB genes are available in the art, a need remains for fully understanding the genes and enzymes involved in the production and accumulation of saturated fatty acids in seed oil and in developing methods (especially non-transgenic methods) for reducing the relative amount of total saturated fatty acids and/or of specific saturated fatty acids in the seeds, without having a negative effect on the plants growth and development. To date, no (non-transgenic) Brassica crop plants are available in the art which produce seed oil containing significantly less than 7% saturated fatty acids. There remains, therefore, a need for tools and methods for developing such plants and oils as described hereinafter in the detailed description, the figures, the examples and the claims.